Post lock for railway cars



Sept. 29, 1964 F. P. ADLER 3,150,613

. Pos'r Loox Foa RAILWAY CARS Filed Nov. 15, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 29, 1964 F. P. ADLER PosT LOCK FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Nov. 15 1961 Sept. 29, 1964 F. P. ADLER PosT Locx FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Nov. 13, 1961 United States Patent O 3,150,613 POST LOCK FOR RAILWAY CARS Franklin P. Adler, Michigan City, Ind., assignor. to Pullman Incorporated, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 13, 1961, Ser. No. 151,663 6 Claims. (Cl. 10S-378) This invention relates to an improved post lock for a slidably mounted door post adapted for use in railway cars or the like.

Copending applications, Serial No. 129,937 tiled August 2, 1961, and Serial No. 134,259 tiled August 28, 1961, to which reference is hereby made, both disclose an open side railway car having la slidably mounted door post which cooperates with one end of a roll up door. Both of -those applications also disclose a post lock for the upper end of the slidably mounted door post.

The post locks disclosed in those cases both require that the door post be swung outwardly in order to disengage the post lock.

An object of this invention is to provide a post lock of the fixed element type which does not require outwardly swinging movement of the door post to free the same for longitudinally sliding movement on the post track.

A post lock must be effective to lock the upper end of the post very securely against outward movement so that the door post can take up the very substantial transverse forces occasioned by transverse shifting of the lading against either the door post or against the doors which are mounted in the door posts. Such effectiveness is best obtained by an arrangement wherein the door post interlocks with a portion of the car structure, thus providing a fixed element type of lock as contrasted with a latch bolt type. Additionally, the post lock must be effective to lock the post against longitudinally sliding movement so that the post can initially be located in registration with the track sections carried on the transom and also to prevent subsequent longitudinal movement which would damage the door rollers.

In some instances, as pointed out in Serial No. 134,259, i-t is desirable to provide a door assembly which can be swung outwardly as a unit so as to clear any lading which may be shifted into door abutting position which would interfere with the vertical movement of the roll up doors.

lt is .another object of my invention to provide a post lock which, although it does not require outwardly swinging movement in order to disengage the post, nevertheless will not interfere with any outwardly swinging movement which may be required to avoid interference with the lading.

In other words, the present invention avoids the arrangement of the last mentioned application, in which the door assembly must be swung outwardly through perhaps ten degrees to disengage the top of the door post, whereas a movement of only two or three degrees is required to establish the desired clearance with the lading.

However, it is understood that the improved post lock shown herein is applicable to door post arrangements other than the above.

A further object is to provide an improved post lock in which the locking mechanism is accessible only from the interior of the car, and in which the parts are spring biased into the operative position so that there will be no danger of inadvertent release when the car is in transit.

Another object is to provide an improved post lock mechanism which can be connected to the car structu-re after the position of the door post has been determined, as contrasted with a post lock arrangement in which the 7 position of the door post is determined by the location of certain structural elements of the car, such as a transom.

3,150,513 Patented Sept. 29., i964 Thus, in cons-tructing the car, the location of the door post can be determined with a high degree of accuracy even though fairly large tolerances are used for the structural elements.

Other objects, features and advantages of my invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

With reference now to the drawings in which like reference numerals designate like parts:

FIG. 1 is a vertical transverse section of a railway car embodying my invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal section taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing the cooperation of the doors with the door post;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view, corresponding to the upper portion of FIG. l showing my improved post locking means in elevation;

FiG. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3 showing the cooperation of the bolt asesmbly with the locking plate of the door post;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the locking mechanism taken along line 5 5 of FIG. 3;

FG. 6 is a plan view or" the bolt assembly;

FIG. 7 is a vertical longitudinal section taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 3; and

FlG. 8 is an end view of the socket block shown in FiG. 3.

In FIG. 1 which shows the relationship of the post lock to the car structure as a whole, the reference numeral designates the car body, the structure of which includes a side sill 1i and a top beam 12. The car body also includes two car end structures (not shown) which support the top beam 12 at its two ends. The car structure is preferably of the unit frame type shown in the aforementioned copending applications, in which the load carrying capacity of the car is developed by two transversely spaced unit trames, each including a side sill 11 and a top beam 12, the characteristic of the unit frame construction being that no vertical structural members are required at points between the car ends.

FIG. l also shows a side plate 13, and this is supported at its end by the car end structures (not shown) and at intermediate points by transoms 14, of which one is shown in FIG. 1. The transom 14 is in the form of a plate which is cut away at 28 to receive the top beam 12, and a suitable patch plate 29 is provided to till the gap. The roof sheets 15 are secured to and supported by the side plates 13.

Since no intermediate vertical structural members are required for the car body, the usual side wall construction is dispensed with, and a series of vertically slidable doors may be provided which extend for the full length of the car at each side. Secured to the side plate 13 is a post track 16 on which a door post 17 is slidably mounted by means of a trolley bracket 18. In a three-door (per side) car, there will be two of such slidably mounted dor posts 17, but it is obvious that a greater or lesser number of slidable door posts may be used depending on the number of doors per side. The post track 16 preferably extends for the full length of the car so that the door post can be moved in either direction Itoward one of the car end structures. Thus it is possible to expose the entire side area of the car and to use the same for direct loading as pointed out in the aforementioned copending applications.

Located between each pair of door posts 17, or between one door post 17 and an end post (not shown) is a roll up door 19. The roll up door 19 is of a sectional type and each section is provided at each end with a roller which receives the roller 20. Also a track 22 is mounted on each side of the transom 14, and the track is conis tinuous with the groove 21 and other track elements of the door post 17. Thus, the roll up door 19, when elevated, is disposed horizontally in the upper portion of the car between the transoms 14.

The present invention relates to an improved means for locking the upper end of the door post with respect to the transom or other parts of the car structure so that it will form a firm support for the roll up doors 19 when they are in their closed positions. More particularly the present invention provides a post locking means which, when in its inoperative position, permits the door post to be slid in the longitudinal direction of the car as contrasted with the arrangement previously described in the introduction of this specification.

As shown in FIG. 1 the door post 17 extends from the transom 14 down to a threshold plate 23. At its lower end, it is locked with respect to the threshold plate by a bottom post lock 24. At its upper end, it is locked in position by the cooperation of a locking plate 25, a socket block 26, and locking mechanism 27.

The locking mechanism 27 includes a bolt assembly 30, a guide assembly 31, and an actuating handle 32. The locking plate is aiiixed to the rear surface of the door post 27 and has an upwardly extending V-shaped portion which is received within a correspondingly shaped groove 57 of the socket block 26. The rearwardly facing front wall of the groove 57, as shown in FIG. 8, constitutes a stop surface 58. The socket block is secured with respect to the transom 14 as will be hereinafter pointed out so as to form a part of the car structure. Thus, the locking plate interlocks with that portion of the car structure represented by the stop surface 58 to prevent outward movement of the door post, but the arrangement nevertheless permits movement of the door post along the post track 16 in a direction longitudinal of the car. The bolt assembly 30 interlocks with the locking plate 25 to prevent this longitudinal movement but the arrangement is such that outwardly swinging movement of the lower end of the door post is not interfered with.

The guide assembly 31 includes a top plate 33 which is suitably welded to the lower edge of the transom 14. The inner end of the top plate is bent downwardly to provide an end flange 34 which rests on the flange 35 of the top beam 12. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the socket block 26 is of substantially the same width as the top plate 33 and is secured thereto by a Weld 36. The guide assembly 31 also includes a support for the bolt assembly 30 which is in the form of a transversely arranged angle 37 having holes 38 therein (FIG. 4) and which is removably secured to the top plate by screw threaded means 39.

The bolt assembly 30 includes a pair of bolts 40 which are connected to each other by a cross member 41 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, thus providing an H-shaped structure. The bolts are received at their rear end within the holes 38 of the support member 37, and the front ends thereof are received in holes 42 formed in the socket block 26. Thus, the bolt assembly 30 is mounted for longitudinally slidable movement with respect to the guide assembly 31.

Projecting upwardly from top plate 33 is a forked bracket 43 which carries a pivot pin 44 on which the actuating handle 32 is mounted for swinging movement by means of a supporting arm 45. An opening 46 is formed in the cross member 41 of the bolt assembly and the tail 47 of the actuating handle 32 extends into that opening, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The top plate 33 is provided with a slot 48 to accommodate the tail 47.

Thus, as the handle 32 is swung from its locked or solid line position as shown in FIG. 3 downwardly into its dotted line or retracted position, the bolt assembly 30 will be drawn rearwardly. When the bolt assembly is in its locked or projected position, the two bolts 40 overlap the side edges of the locking plate 25 to prevent longitudinal sliding movement of the door post 17 along the post track 16. However, when the bolt assembly is retracted by the 4 actuating handle 32, then the bolts 40 are clear of the locking plate 25 to permit sliding movement of the door ost.

p Springs 5t) are provided for urging the bolt assembly 30 into its projected position. Collars 51 are mounted on each of the bolts 40, and U-shaped brackets 52 extend downwardly from the top plate 33. Springs 50 are confined between the collars 51 and the brackets 52, suitable washers 53 being provided to provide a seat for the end of each spring. Thus, the actuating handle 32 operates against the bias of the springs 50. One advantage of the present arrangement is that if one spring should break, the other spring will still exert sufficient force on the bolt assembly 30 to maintain it in its projected position. Thus the locking mechanism will still be operative, and will remain so until such time as the defect is discovered and the broken spring replaced.

In connection with `spring replacement, the bolt assembly 30 can be readily removed by merely unscrewing the screw threaded means 39 and removing the support member 37.

The positioning of the guide assembly 31 with respect to the lower edge of the transom 14 incident to making the welded connection is facilitated by the provision of a bracket 55 and a nut and bolt 56 shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. Due to the fairly large tolerances encountered in the fabrication of a freight car, the location of the transom 14 may be a fraction of an inch offset from the center line of the desired location of the door post 17. Therefore, screw threaded means 56 are provided to facilitate the initial positioning of the locking mechanism 27 after Which the top plate 33 and socket block 26 are welded to the transom 14. A desirable feature of this arrangement is that in initially positioning the guide assembly 31, the socket block 26 is pushed outwardly into abutting engagement with a vertical edge of the transom plate 14 so that the transverse stress on the door post 17 is transmitted directly to the car structure through the socket block 26, and not through the welded connections between the top plate 33 and the transom 14.

To summarize the operation which has been previously described in detail in connection with the description of the various parts and subassemblies, let it first be assumed that the doors are closed, and that the bolt assembly 30 is in its projected position. In order to open the doors, first the bottom post lock 24 is released with respect to both the slidably mounted door posts and the end door posts (not shown) so that the door assembly as a whole can be swung outwardly to an extent suicient to clear the lading. This would require an angular displacement of only two or three degrees at the most. It will be observed from FIG. 4 that the side edges of the locking plate 25 are disposed in a plane which is perpendicular to the edge of the post track 16 about which the door assembly rotates, the axes of the bolt members 40 being parallel to the plane of these side edge surfaces. Thus, the bolt members 40 will not interfere with the outwardly swinging movement of the door post 17 Then one or more of the doors 19 may be elevated so that they are located between the transom track sections 22, affording access to the interior of the car. Then the operator can step into the car, and pull down on the actuating handle 32, thus retracting the bolt assembly 30. With one hand on the actuating handle 32, the other hand is free to push the door post 17 in the longitudinal direction to an extent sufficient to clear the locking mechanism 27. Then the door post can be slid along the track 16 either toward the closest car end or in the opposite direction, depending upon the direction of the initial displacement. Similarly, another door post can be slid past the door locking mechanism 27 by retracting the actuating handle, and of course, this may be necessary in a four door arrangement.

After the car has been unloaded, or loaded, the various steps are repeated in the reverse order so that the door posts 17 are first located so as to register with the transom track sections 22, and the doors 19 are then pulled down, and the lower ends of the doors and door posts are locked with respect to the threshold plate 23.

According to the present arrangement, the interlocking of the locking plate 25 with the socket block 26 provides a very secure engagement of the upper end of the door post with respect to outward movement. Furthermore, the locking mechanism 27 prevents any longitudinal movement of the door post which would tend to damage the doors or to cause partial disengagement of the elements 25 and 26. Once the door assembly has been closed and locked, the bolt assembly 30 is maintained in its projected position by either one of the two springs 50, and the whole mechanism is concealed within the car so that there will be no possibility of inadvertent release of the upper end of the door post due either to breakage of one spring, or due to accidental displacement of the actuating handle which is located above the lading in an out of the way place.

Although only the preferred embodiment of my invention has been shown and described herein, it will be understood that various modiications and changes may be made in the construction shown without departing from the spirit of my invention as pointed out in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a railway car having a longitudinally extending side plate and a transversely disposed transom plate located inwardly of said side plate, and also having a door assembly including a pair of door posts and a roll up door mounted therebetween, the combination of a post track mounted on said side plate on the external surface thereof,

a block mounted on said transom plate inwardly of said side plate and having a downwardly facing groove oriented parallel to the orientation of said post track and extending to at least one end edge of said block,

means slidably mounting at least one of said door posts on said track for sliding movement in a direction parallel to the length of said car, and for outwardly swinging movement,

an interlocking lug mounted on said sliding door post toward the upper end thereof and projecting upwardly into said groove for sliding movement and interlocking with said gro-ove to prevent outward movement of said upper door post end without interfering with said outwardly swinging and said sliding movements, and

retractible bolt means mounted on said transom plate and projecting into said block and engaging said interlocking lug to prevent said sliding movement in at least one direction.

2. The combination of claim 1 which includes spring means for urging said bolt means into projected position.

3. The combination of claim l having a guide assembly which includes said block and a transverse support member, the front end of said bolt means being slidably mounted in said block, and the rear end of said bolt means being slidably mounted in said transverse support member.

4. The combination of claim 3 in which said guide assembly includes a top plate, a bracket secured thereto and having an opening therein for receiving said bolt means, a collar on said bolt means, a spring surrounding said bolt means and conned between said collar and said bracket for urging said bolt means into its projected position, and in which said transverse support member is removably mounted on said top plate so that said transverse support member can be removed from said guide assembly incident to removal of said bolt member for the purpose of spring replacement.

5. The combination of claim l in which said bolt means comprises a pair of bolts secured to each other in parallel arrangement and spaced from each other by a distance substantially equal to the length of said interlocking lug, and mounted to straddle the length of said interlocking lug to prevent longitudinal movement thereof.

6. The combination of claim 1 in which said bolt means comprises an H-shaped structure having spaced bolt elements straddling `said interlocking lug, and a separate spring surrounding each bolt element, each spring being of a strength sufficient to urge said H-shaped structure into projected and plate straddling position.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,405,485 Callery Feb. 7, 1922 1,908,165 Moler May 9, 1933 2,070,845 Robinson Feb. 16, 1937 

1. IN A RAILWAY CAR HAVING A LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING SIDE PLATE AND A TRANSVERSELY DISPOSED TRANSOM PLATE LOCATED INWARDLY OF SAID SIDE PLATE, AND ALSO HAVING A DOOR ASSEMBLY INCLUDING A PAIR OF DOOR POSTS AND A ROLL UP DOOR MOUNTED THEREBETWEEN, THE COMBINATION OF A POST TRACK MOUNTED ON SAID SIDE PLATE ON THE EXTERNAL SURFACE THEREOF, A BLOCK MOUNTED ON SAID TRANSOM PLATE INWARDLY OF SAID SIDE PLATE AND HAVING A DOWNWARDLY FACING GROOVE ORIENTED PARALLEL TO THE ORIENTATION OF SAID POST TRACK AND EXTENDING TO AT LEAST ONE END EDGE OF SAID BLOCK, MEANS SLIDABLY MOUNTING AT LEAST ONE OF SAID DOOR POSTS ON SAID TRACK FOR SLIDING MOVEMENT IN A DIRECTION PARALLEL TO THE LENGTH OF SAID CAR, AND FOR OUTWARDLY SWINGING MOVEMENT, AN INTERLOCKING LUG MOUNTED ON SAID SLIDING DOOR POST TOWARD THE UPPER END THEREOF AND PROJECTING UPWARDLY INTO SAID GROOVE FOR SLIDING MOVEMENT AND INTERLOCKING WITH SAID GROOVE TO PREVENT OUTWARD MOVEMENT OF SAID UPPER DOOR POST END WITHOUT INTERFERING 